Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/60

 tendency to trespass upon direct authority and to submit to it when delegated. During the first five centuries of the historical period, this trait is illustrated by the anomaly of a nation's obedience to titles derived from imperialism by aristocrats that flouted the imperial prerogatives. During the next five centuries the same picture is seen in more varied forms,—the Emperor Shirakawa and his successors ruling under the shadow of the throne they had abdicated; the Hōjō Vicegerents governing for the Minamoto through the authority of a puppet Shōgun; the Wardens of later days administering affairs under commissions from the fainéant Ashikaga. It appears to have been a political necessity that the source of power should be abstracted from the agents of its exercise.